3 Ohioans Accused of Plotting Attacks Against Americans

In one of the first cases tying residents of the U.S. to the insurgency in Iraq, three Ohio men have been indicted on allegations of plotting to train terrorists and provide explosives for attacks on Americans overseas -- including U.S. forces in Iraq -- the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The five-count indictment, unsealed in federal court in Cleveland and announced at a news conference in Washington, accuses the men of gathering detailed information on the construction of explosive vests for suicide bombers and the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, a leading cause of casualties among military personnel in Iraq.

The indictment also alleges that the men took steps to set up a terrorist training program inside the U.S.; sought to provide funds, explosives and other materials for extremists in the Middle East; and tried to use an Ohio car dealership and a nonprofit educational program to conceal their activities.

Although the Justice Department refused to provide details, it appeared that the plot was discovered before the three obtained explosives or managed to deliver other materials to alleged extremists in the Middle East.

The department identified the men as Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, who holds U.S. and Jordanian citizenship; Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, a U.S. citizen born in Jordan; and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, a native of Lebanon and a legal resident of the U.S.

El-Hindi and Mazloum are residents of Toledo, Ohio. Amawi, who had lived in the Toledo area, returned to Jordan in August, the department said.

All three were charged with conspiracy to kill or maim people outside the U.S., including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi was also charged with distributing information about explosives and with threatening to kill or injure the president on two occasions.

The three are believed to have been arrested over the weekend, though the Justice Department would not confirm their whereabouts. If convicted on all of the charges, each could face life in prison.

“We have seen cells existing over the last two years in Europe providing money, documents and technical assistance to the insurgents in Iraq,” said Evan Kohlmann, a terrorism analyst who has served as an expert in federal terrorism prosecutions. “It was inevitable there would be cases here in the U.S.”

Kohlmann said the alleged co-conspirators bore the earmarks of such a cell. “They are self-financed, self-motivated,” he said. “It is not clear whether they are being directed from above or simply inspired by what they saw on the Internet.

“It is indicative of how modern technology and the war in Iraq are a lethal cocktail in terms of producing self-motivated terrorists,” Kohlmann said.

Officials declined to say whether the group was connected to any organized insurgency in Iraq or to Jordanian-born insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi. Some experts said at least an indirect link to Zarqawi was likely.

“When Jordanian Americans from outside of Iraq go into Jordan and they are involved in the insurgency, it is nine times out of 10 that they are either directly involved with Zarqawi or working on behalf of someone who is working on behalf of Zarqawi,” Kohlmann said.

Justice Department officials, asked whether the alleged plot had been discovered as a result of the kind of domestic surveillance that has sparked controversy in recent weeks, would say only that the investigation had relied on what U.S. Atty. Gregory A. White of the Northern District of Ohio called “traditional law enforcement kinds of efforts.”

Officials refused to say whether the three men had ties to a Toledo-based Muslim charity, KindHearts, which was recently shut down by federal authorities because of suspected ties to the militant group Hamas. They acknowledged that the KindHearts inquiry had been coordinated with the investigation of the three men.

Department officials said they had learned of the plot from people in Toledo, including a man identified only as “the Trainer.”

The indictment describes him as a U.S. citizen with a U.S. military background who was approached by El-Hindi in 2002 to provide security and bodyguard training.

“The Trainer” cooperated with federal agents for more than a year, since the beginning of the investigation, the department said.

The indictments illustrate what the department describes as examples of home-grown terrorist threats that have persisted in the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole compared the arrests to federal action against suspected terrorist cells in New York state, California and elsewhere. This case underscores the importance of public cooperation, he said, because “these individuals are often hiding in plain sight.”

The indictment alleges that the conspiracy began sometime before November 2004. It appeared to reach its zenith in August 2005, when Amawi traveled to Jordan with five laptop computers, allegedly containing information and terrorism plans, that he intended to turn over to extremists. The computers were never delivered, the indictment says.

The indictment also alleges that the men engaged in paramilitary training and practiced with firearms at a Toledo shooting range, received instruction in using explosives, and sought to obtain explosives for confederates in the Middle East.

They allegedly discussed training in the use of IEDs over the July 4, 2005, holiday in the belief that that fireworks noise would disguise their activities, though there was no indication that they actually did so.

The three are also accused of recruiting others -- including two unidentified people from the Chicago area -- to participate in training for jihad, or holy war.

Amawi was accused of downloading and distributing a video titled “Martyrdom Operation Vest Preparation” on how to make a suicide bomb vest. The video, which the indictment alleges Amawi found on an extremist website, was originally produced by the militant group Hezbollah in connection with planned suicide attacks against Israelis.